1. Fields of the Invention
This invention relates to a number of superconductive optoelectronic device and a superconductive optoelectronic apparatus. The superconductive optoelectronic devices and apparatuses of the invention are novel and vastly different from those of prior art in that the invention uses a combination of superconductive material and special superconductive photoconductive-material which reveals photoconductivity below the critical temperature of the relevant superconductive material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With recent development of superconductive materials, various new superconductive substances have been found; for instance, superconductive oxide materials such as those of Y-Ba-Cu-O system and Ca-Sr-Bi-Cu-O systems. However, most of current research effort are focussed on the raising of transition temperature or critical current, and not much studies except those on the reflection or scattering have been made on either optical properties of superconductive substance or industrial applications of such optical properties. The reason for it is in that, generally speaking, researchers have considered that superconductivity is incompatible with such physical properties as optical absorption and photoconductivity and they have assumed that optical irradiation in the region of an excess amount of energy with the relevant wave number beyond the energy gap of the BCS theory will merely destroy the stability of superconductivity. Further, most of the superconductive materials which have been developed so far are metals or alloys, and no superconductive materials with useful optical properties have been found. The superconductive photoconductive property was discovered by the present Applicant, and has hitherto not been reported other than by the present Applicant.
On the other hand, if high-temperature superconductive oxide material are combined with recently developed superconductive photoconductive-materials which reveal their proper photoconductivity at temperatures below the transition temperatures of the relevant superconductive oxide materials, a number of new electronic devices and optoelectronic apparatuses may be developed, for instance, a switching device with no power loss, an optically operating device with no power loss, an optically operating logical device, a space parallel type optically operating apparatus, a camera or an image forming device possibly with superconducting wiring, a high-speed optically operating apparatus to be driven at an extremely low power, and the like.